August Targets

These are deep sky targets seen from Caltech 9-11PM Local in August.

Object	Alternative Names	Type	Brightness	Surface Brightness	Size	Suggested Telescope/Eyepiece	Notes	Links for More Information
Alcor & Mizar	Horse and Rider, Handle of Big Dipper	Double Star	0.33	-	14" apart	>= 6"	Historically used by many cultures as a test of vision to identify the two stars separately; 85 lyr away.	Space.com Wikipedia
M3	NGC5272	Globular Cluster	6.2	12.2	18'	>= 10"	One of the brightest and biggest globulars; 500,000 stars, 8 Gyr old, 34 klyr away	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia
M13	NGC6205, Hercules Cluster	Globular Cluster	5.8	11.0	20'	>= 10"	Appears as a faint white cloud, can resolve some stars: 300,000 stars, 11.6 Gyr old, 22 klyr away; the Arecibo Message, one of the first attempts at communicating with extraterrestrials was beamed at M13	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia
M5	NGC5904	Globular Cluster	6.7	13.2	23'	>= 10"	One of the most voluminous globular clusters in the Milky Way, with a width of 165 lyr. 25 klyr away, contains several hundred thousands stars	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia
Albireo		Double Star	0.33	-	35" apart	>= 6"	High constrast binary with one star red, one star blue. Good excuse to talk about stellar types and colors and evolution.	EarthSky Wikipedia
Ring Nebula	M57	Planetary Nebula	8.8	10.9	230"	>= 10"	Appears as a faintly colored ring, small.	Astropixels SEDS Wikipedia

Topic revision: r1 - 2016-07-04 - OutreachAdmin